Saturday, October 28, 2023

Spooky Space Force Saturdays STRANGE GALAXY "Space Monsters"

Art by Ross Andru and Mike Esposito
...except, it both was and wasn't the final tale!
The script was used, almost verbatim (but with a renamed lead character), for a new story in the first issue of the short-lived 1970s b/w magazine Strange Galaxies!
All the other names, including the female lead, Maeve, and various locations, remained the same...
In fact, all the stories in Eerie Publications' Strange Galaxy V1N8 (which was the first issue), were re-dos of earlier stories from various defunct comic companies!
I guess they figured that no one would remember the original 1950s tales in 1971...
The rewriter/adaptor is unknown, but could be editor Carl Burgos, who created, among others, the Golden Age Human Torch and the first Silver Age Captain Marvel (the android who said "Split"!).
The stories don't have individual art credits, but according to the Weird World of Eerie Publications by Mike Howlett, the illustrator is one of the artists who were regular contiburors to the Eerie Publications line, Oscar Fraga.
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Friday, October 27, 2023

Frightening Friday Fun CHILLING ADVENTURES IN SORCERY AS TOLD BY SABRINA "Boy Who Cried Vampire"

The now-cancelled CW series Chilling Adventures of Sabrina was not the first time the "Teenage Witch" did actual horror...
... in 1972, she hosted her own series of horror stories told in the Archie "vein" as you can see in this never-reprinted (in color) terror-tale...
Now there's an ambiguous ending if ever I heard one...
In 1971, the Comics Code Authority loosened its' regulations regarding monsters, allowing limited use of "classic" creatures including vampires, werewolves, and zombies.
While DC and Marvel went monster-happy, unleashing new strips and several new titles, Archie Comics' response was this book with an unusual combination of horror writing and Archie house-style art, which tended to conflict with the theme of the stories!
To be fair, writer Frank Doyle, penciler Dan DeCarlo, and inker Rudy Lapick tried their best with this tale from Chilling Adventures in Sorcery as Told by Sabrina #1 (1972), but it just doesn't work.
After two issues, the series was revamped (pun intended) into a more-traditional horror title with non-cartoony art by Gray Morrow and associates, dropping Sabrina as the hostess.
It survived nine more issues.
Speaking of survival, reruns of the TV version of Chilling Adventures of Sabrina can be seen on Netflix!

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(which reprints this story...but in black-and-white) 

Thursday, October 26, 2023

Reading Room GHOST COMICS "Face in the Shroud"

It's been a while, boy fiends and ghoul friends...
..but during the season when ghosts and goblins dominate pop culture, we felt it was time to rise up out of the coffin and tell a sordid story!
As horror stories go, this tale from Fiction House's Ghost Comics #8 (1953) is fairly mild, but the art by the underrated Bill Benulis and Jack Abel has a couple of kool "camera angles" and storytelling tricks that other artists of the period like Alex Toth and Ross Andru were also experimenting with.
The writer's name has been lost to the mists of time.
BTW, this tale was recently-reprinted (for the first time in over 60 years) in IDW's Haunted Horror, but was oddly-attributed to Don Heck, even though the story is signed by Benulis and Abel in the first panel!

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Wednesday, October 25, 2023

Wednesday Worlds of Wonder O.C.T. OCCULT CRIMES TASKFORCE "Not As It Seems" Conclusion

The Soul Ripper is Revealed...

...to have been inside the body of Sophia Ortiz's late father's O.C.T. partner!
Now it attempts to tale possession of Sophia!

During its' four-issue run in 2006-7, Dimension Films acquired the movie options, but the project sat in Development Hell until the rights lapsed.
Then, in 2012, A&E announced the property would be produced as a mini-series produced by and starring Rosario Dawson with Gale Ann Hurd as Executive Producer.
Sadly, that didn't progress beyond the discussion stage.
And, of course, Rosario is wayyy to busy now to even consider pursuing it again!

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Tuesday, October 24, 2023

Reading Room WEIRD MEN'S ADVENTURES "I Walked on the Moon"

In the early 1950s, EC Comics set the pace for other companies...
...as this hybrid sci-fi/horror tale from Atlas' Men's Adventures #26 (1954) clearly demonstrates!
You'll note the post's header reads Weird Men's Adventures, but I mentioned earlier the book was  just Men's Adventures.
It's not a typo.
The indicia title was Men's Adventures, and from 1-20 it featured war and high adventure tales.
But, with #21, it became a horror title and "Weird" was added in a graphic burst to the logo (but not the indicia).
Six issues later, the brief revival of the Golden Age Human Torch and Toro took over the book for two issues before it was cancelled.
Though the writer for this tale from is unknown, the artist (doing a credible Wally Wood imitation) is Gene Colan!
Trivia: When the story was reprinted in Marvel's Weird Wonder Tales #17 (1976), it was retitled and the splash panel was rewritten (including removing the "Weird Men's Adventure" blurb)...
Considering that, in 1976, it was over five years since the first Moon landing, I'm not certain why the editor made the change...
BTW, note the "originally-presented" caption references the wrong issue!
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